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FeaturesPeople first
The response to the Indian Ocean tsunami has been unprecedented. But how relevant has it been to the affected communities? More... The problem of child labour intensifies in UP's carpet beltThe campaign against child labour began in the carpet belt of Uttar Pradesh in the late-1970s. Three decades on, what has changed? Our correspondent travelled through the Mirzapur-Bhadohi belt, where children are hard at work making tufted carpets for the global market More... Message in a doodleLeif Packalen from Finland and Delhi-based artist Sharad Sharma promote the comics form of communicating as the simplest, least expensive and most effective way of getting ideas across More... Bioethics comes of age in IndiaThe dilemmas thrown up by high-technology and market-driven medicine were amongst the subjects discussed at India's first National Conference of Bioethics in Mumbai More... Contract farming in the PunjabThe Punjab government is all fired up about its new contract farming programme to promote crop diversification. But has it worked? More... Measuring happinessBesides the usual household and demographic information, Bhutan's census machinery is asking every citizen whether she's happy. A country that is not afraid to ask this question is definitely going in the right direction More... Grandparents in Punjab bring up children of a lost generationAs hundreds of indebted farmers in Punjab commit suicide, in village after village old grandparents -- once prosperous, now impoverished - are left struggling to take care of their grandchildren More... Is it diversify or perish for farmers in the Punjab?In the face of Punjab's acute water crisis, the government wants farmers to switch from water-intensive wheat and paddy to oilseeds and pulses. But the state is divided on the crop-diversification debate, with farmers demanding a minimum support price for the switchover More... Champions of the environmentThe environment and its management is a major part of Bhutan's development plan, and one of the four pillars of Gross National Happiness. Bhutanese law requires 60% of the country to remain forested for all time. Already, over a quarter of Bhutan's land has been set aside in the form of protected areas More... Democratic BuddhismA well-loved monarch who is constantly trying to push power away from himself, governance that is simultaneously secular and Buddhist"¦Manoj Nadkarni finds his cynicism about Gross National Happiness rapidly eroding as he continues his travels through Bhutan More... Misgivings on givingIn tsunami-affected regions of Tamil Nadu, where CSOs are hard at work on rehabilitation, there is evidence that some of the lessons of Gujarat and Orissa have not been learnt -- communities are not being sufficiently involved in the rehabilitation effort, and inappropriate shelters stand empty of inhabitants More... Tsunami dredges up social tensionsThe tsunami has also dredged up caste, class and livelihood tussles that must be dealt with in the process of rehabilitation. In Bommiyarpalyam village in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu, it's the fisherfolk versus the upper-caste Vanniyars versus the dalits More... The Irulas find a homelandWhile the world focuses on the fishing communities that bore the brunt of the tsunami, spare a thought for the Irulas of Tamil Nadu. These tribals, once displaced from their forest homes and traditional occupations, have now lost their pathetic settlements and precarious livelihoods in coastal villages. In Nemeli, some Irulas have finally found a home More... Bhutan opts off the hi-growth escalatorBhutan pumps 20% of its GDP into health and education. Ninety per cent of the population has some form of health coverage, and the UN's World Food Programme is readying to exit the country. So, is a developed nation one that has a high GDP, or one like Bhutan, which refuses to accept that consuming more and producing more is the road to happiness? More... Invisible victims of the tsunamiParts of the Chennai coast look like a mini UN, with shelters, fibreglass boats, and the signboards of various benefactors working in the area. The fishing communities hit by the tsunami are readying to go back to sea. In other parts, however, are the dalits, Irulas, saltpan workers and marginal farmers, huddled under tarpaulin sheets, quite forgotten in the rehabilitation effort More... A long road to happinessThe idea that Gross National Happiness (GNH) is more important than Gross National Product (GNP) is the cornerstone of development in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Manoj Nadkarni travelled to Bhutan to find out whether GNH is indeed a better measure of a country and its people than economic indices. This is the first of his despatches More... Whole villages up for sale in Punjab1,000 acres of land in Bhutal Kulan village in Sangrur district of Punjab are up for sale. In neighbouring Bhutal Khor, 1,200 acres are going a-begging. With crops failing and mounting debts, farmers in Punjab have no option but to sell their lands dirt-cheap. This is the first of a special series on Punjab's agricultural crisis More... Waiting at Room No 60, Sassoon General HospitalSuresh Sawant is the 600th-odd HIV-positive patient listed in the register of those applying for free anti-retroviral therapy at Pune's largest public hospital. He has been camping on the footpath outside the hospital with his family. But, as of now, only 86 of the hundreds applying are receiving the free therapy More... Community takes charge of education in remote Kargil villageThe people of Chuttumail Doks village in Kargil decided that teaching was far too serious a matter to be left to schoolteachers at the government primary school. So they set up a Village Education Committee to monitor the school's activities. Since then the school has become the envy of the surrounding villages and has witnessed a dramatic increase in enrolments More... Spice of life carries whiff of deathImports of pepper from Sri Lanka, including large quantities that are simply routed through that country but not actually produced there, have devastated farmers in Wayanad, home of the world's best pepper. P Sainath continues his series on the agrarian crisis in this region More... Coffee sails globally, sinks locallyWayanad is coffee territory, producing 82% of Kerala's coffee. It has been a huge income and foreign exchange earner for years. But it is now deeply embroiled in the agricultural crisis sweeping the region., writes P SainathMore... Four hamlets survived the tsunami, thanks to mangrovesFour fishing hamlets in Cuddalore district -- T S Pettai, Vadakku Pichavaram, Kalaignar Nagar and MGR Nagar -- stand intact amidst the post-tsunami ruins. How much did their survival have to do with the Pichavaram mangrove regeneration project? More... Kovalam picks up the piecesJamaludeen is repairing and building catamarans at top speed. A village social security system is taking care of orphans and widows. Although devastated by the tsunami, the fisher folk of Kovalam in Tamil Nadu are busy rebuilding their lives More... Commerce and crisis hit Wayanad's studentsTwo processes have hit Wayanad. One is the policy-driven commercialisation of education. And the second is the collapse of Wayanad's economy. For the first time in decades in this education-proud state, thousands of students are dropping out of college and school. P Sainath continues his series on the agrarian crisis in Wayanad More... |
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